World Book Day

We're back, after a short hiatus  and we are talking about all things World Book Day. We're reigniting the true spirit of World Book Day, with tales of past shenanigans and a vision for a celebration that truly honors the joy of reading through child centred activities and continuous provision. 

Remember when dressing up for World Book Day felt like stepping into the pages of your favorite story? We're taking you on a stroll down that costume-clad memory lane, reliving the laughter and the literary love that's grown a bit too commercial. 

 We won't forget to sprinkle in the tranquility of mindfulness with a mindful moment, sharing a personal token of appreciation that reminds us all to savor the quiet moments amid life’s bustling chapters.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:09

Hello and welcome to the earliest staff meeting podcast with Sarah, keely and Steph, the place where you can listen, learn and laugh with us about all things. Early years, hello, hi.

Speaker 2 0:24

I suppose we should say happy new year.

Speaker 1 0:28

Yeah, it's only the end of Feb and we finally made it to our first recording of the year.

Speaker 2 0:34

Yeah, that's right. So today's show is just going to be a little bit different, in that we're just going to do a little talk about our absence and a little quick run through of a few changes, and then today our main topic is World Book Day.

Speaker 1 0:59

WBD, as I like to call it, wbd, hashtag WBD. Let's get that one trending.

Speaker 2 1:09

And yeah, are we having.

Speaker 1 1:11

We can finish with a moment. Okay, good, absolutely.

Speaker 2 1:14

So yeah, apologies, we have not been around for a little while. We are still here, we just just scheduling us. I mean, today we're two again, we're just scheduling us. It's just a bit of a nightmare.

Speaker 1 1:32

Yeah, we're all busy working mums, and it is just trying to find these times when we can actually record together. We have got a plan, haven't we? For? A new recording studio, however that sort of seasonal work, so we're back in the cupboard. This morning it's preschool, so it's very early morning and yeah, but we're here.

Speaker 2 1:57

We're here, we're here, so we are hoping to record on a more regular basis. Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, we are here, we're still here, but thank you for your loyalty, because people are still listening. I know Still listening to the Christmas episode. It just can't be, enough of it.

Speaker 1 2:17

Or is it just a listening and then, or they're falling asleep and it's hard, don't know. I don't know, but thank you to whoever you are, for being very loyal, because we've been very quiet on social media as well and everything, haven't we? But people are still finding the podcast and giving it a listen. Yeah we really appreciate that. So thank you so much. So are you going to get better?

Speaker 2 2:37

Hopefully. Yeah, okay, so the changes that we've just had been having a little chat about. So obviously we've had time to think about it. We want to sort of link it to more of the way we work in school and what we like to do is we like to do research, we like to look different you know educational ways of thinking or practice, and just trying them and see how they fit in with our children, how they fit in with us and the way we work, tinkering with them a bit, trying it out, doing a bit of testing and sort of trying to make it fit in our way really. So we want to be able to do that for you guys. So we want to be able to try out, you know, some educational thinking, you know and you know, let us do it for you and say how it worked, and you can, you know, try have a go at doing what we do.

Speaker 1 3:38

So if anybody's got any areas that they'd like us to explore or any different strategies or people of interest that you think we might follow sort of our sort of way of thinking, then let us know and we can delve into those as well.

Speaker 2 3:56

I think it sort of stemmed from I've been doing a lot of research recently on Waldorfstainer and I've been having a go at doing a lot of like story work with children in school, because they do use a lot of song and story and that's kind of what triggered it off for me. So it's that kind of thing is.

Speaker 2 4:16

I used that, but I didn't go down the whole rabbit hole of Steiner, even though we do do a lot already and I didn't even realise that we did. It's taking those aspects, pulling it apart and thinking right, what can we use in our everyday practice that is easy for everyone to access, because we don't all have access to a lovely Steiner teacher, okay, so if you have any suggestions, please contact us. We've got our website wwwthestaffmeetingcom.

Speaker 1 4:56

I haven't even had any breakfast yet.

Speaker 2 5:00

Anyway, and obviously our Instagram page and our TikTok page as well.

Speaker 1 5:06

We are going to dip our toe further into TikTok. I think so Apparently, that's all the kids do.

Speaker 2 5:13

Yes, all the kids. All you young teachers out there. Okay, let's dive into World Book Day.

Speaker 1 5:28

WBD Wow well, world Book Day. I've got some World Book Day experiences of you. So, oh, definitely, do you want to kick us off with so?

Speaker 2 5:41

my first ever experience in a school on my first ever day as a year one teaching student was on World Book Day, brilliant. So obviously I had only ever worked in nurseries, I hadn't. I've done some work experience in school, but I never knew about World Book Day. It was so 15 years ago, it was probably in its infancy, had not a clue. So me and my partner because we worked in Tuesdays then turned up at the school and who should open the door?

Speaker 1 6:17

But Mr Tickle, oh, and was that the headteach dresser? That?

Speaker 2 6:22

was the deputy head, okay, and it was like a huge like box structure with these like big arms that had wire in them. Yeah, and it was all homemade. And I just was trying to be very professional and I was extremely nervous and Mr Tickle was trying to navigate through the corridors and we went straight into assembly and then I realised the whole school except me and my partner were in costume and the headteacher said oh, we told the university we were expecting you to turn up in costume.

Speaker 1 6:58

You should have said yeah, I am. You should have seen me on a normal day.

Speaker 2 7:01

Exactly this is my mask I'm trying to hold it all together, thanks, yeah. So we felt very guilty and all the all the children were like where's your costume, where's your costume? And we were like that's a bit shame in his hair. It is a bit it was. Yeah, let's face it it was. But yeah, so that was my first ever day in a school, oh wow.

Speaker 1 7:21

Yeah, so it's imprinted on your brain. It is imprinted on my brain.

Speaker 2 7:25

But you know I do have very fond memories of World Book Day. You know I used to really go for it when I was a young teacher. I was known in the school for being the one that always made a huge effort.

Speaker 1 7:39

Wow, I mean I can imagine that you got your sewing machine out. Yeah, I did. You went to town, exactly I really went to town.

Speaker 2 7:46

I mean, I've been Tinkerbell but not a.

Speaker 1 7:49

Not the Disney version.

Speaker 2 7:50

Well, it was the Disney version, but not the very. It was tasteful Propriet physical.

Speaker 1 7:54

Tasteful tink. I've been Tinkerbell as well, yeah.

Speaker 2 7:59

But what wasn't helpful was the caretakers. Inappropriate comments about Tinkerbell. We won't go there. But yeah, I have some really fond memories, but I also have some really hmm memories of, yeah, just mainly children not coming in in costume and feeling very, as you say, shamed. Shamed by that and that. That does sort of hit a bit of a call with me.

Speaker 1 8:26

But yeah, I mean, I remember one particular time where well, I'll just add that I am the I am not. You know, as you can imagine, I don't go to town with my costumes.

Speaker 2 8:38

So you're not an eager beaver.

Well Book Day

Speaker 1 8:40

Well, it's just like I'm not very creative in that way, so I will. I do like dressing up and I do enjoy it, especially like on a night out or something like that. I sort of embrace it. But for Wellbook Day I tend to be sort of, you know, have the same costumes that I just regurgitate year after year. So I've got the Hermione costume, you know, or just wear all black and a pair of ears and you're a cat, that kind of thing. But I do remember one year that we used to get a McDonald's. Sometimes at school we used to go, like a few of us used to go and collect this big order of McDonald's.

Speaker 1 9:15

It was a nice little treat and it was used to like fall on a group of people to go in the car to pick it up and it was on Wellbook Day and it was just really funny because I remember I think there was like four of us crammed into this mini or something going through the drive-thru and it was like ordering like 300 cheeseburgers. And yeah, it was like where's Wally?

Speaker 2 9:36

Because there's always a where's Wally, oh, there's like Anne Wanda there's so many, there's so many.

Speaker 1 9:41

Or was it Waldo from?

Speaker 2 9:42

American listeners.

Speaker 1 9:43

Exactly, and then I think somebody else was probably like the Hungry Caterpillar or something like that.

Speaker 2 9:48

There's always three little pigs, but there's always like 20 little pigs, and there's always like loads of things, thing one and thing two, oh yeah, there's always people to seem to do that. Oh yeah, just a thing. And then yeah, there's always a lot of things, or the day, the crayons gave up. There's always like so many crayons yeah.

Speaker 1 10:05

And that's just the teacher. So that was like a funny memory for me. But yeah, I think the dressing up with it because it's sort of just this feeling of hype in the school, isn't it? It's a little bit of silliness and that is nice and the children obviously like to see the teachers dressed up in things, but the same. Well, we'll probably delve into it a bit more in a minute. But the pressure of getting the costumes for the parents, it's sort of become a bit of a commercialised thing, isn't it really?

Speaker 2 10:37

I think back when, I don't know back in my day, when, well, book Day was about books and it was this amazing wow day. The supermarkets and the fancy dress websites have really taken hold, and I get it. That's how they make their money, but it's become very commercialised and it's kind of let's go to Amazon and let's see which.

Speaker 1 11:03

Well, yeah, that's what kind of mum I am. I am, I'm out for quickly.

Speaker 2 11:06

Well, I can tell you now, I've been in my in need for the last few years and she'll be coming out again this year, as you know, I've got my red cloak that I purchased a few years ago, little red riding hood.

Speaker 1 11:19

Little red riding hood but it also doubles up as the handmade tail so it's like after hours, I can go from day to night. He's beyond me. Yeah, let the Lord open. So, yeah, that will probably be coming out again next week for Well Book Day. But I think what's happened over these is the intention of, obviously the intention of Well Book Day and the Well Book Day people. It's all about promoting a love of reading and just passion for enjoyment of reading and I had a little quick look at the Well Book Day strategy and they are really like focused on understanding that probably the people you're trying to reach the least likely you're going to reach- with those the hype around the costumes, because it is those families from you know, disadvantaged backgrounds perhaps, or you know where it's a bit more difficult to get a hold of a costume and books, and you know.

Speaker 1 12:19

So it's about trying to just promote this love of reading at the core. So, yeah, it's become a little bit, a little bit moved away from that with the costumes.

Speaker 2 12:28

Yeah, the focus is yeah, it's just on the costumes now, not on the reading.

Speaker 1 12:31

And, as we know, some children do find that particularly stressful. They do, and it's never very comfortable. I remember one year little boy in this amazing costume of Thomas the Tank Engine, which was a cardboard box. So soon as you've got to school you've got to kind of take it off to have any like involvement with anybody throughout the day. You can't put your coat on, you can't even sit down. At least it was made. It was a homemade one. Yeah, that's nice.

Speaker 1 13:01

Yeah, so it was like lovely and the effort that's got into it is lovely but not practical. Really no, for days worth of learning or play in any year, and then you get the ones that are a little bit inappropriate. Like I know, it went viral a few years ago there was somebody that dressed up their child as Christian Gray. Oh yeah, I saw that Like a little four year old or something. I think he got sent home.

Speaker 2 13:29

I've seen Pennywise the Clown because that's a book, isn't it?

Speaker 1 13:34

Stephen King?

Speaker 2 13:35

Yeah, quite a few of those, and it's like that is so inappropriate on many levels, a child being Pennywise the Clown who eats children.

Speaker 1 13:44

I do even know who that is. That's a definite safeguarding red light there right away.

Speaker 2 13:51

And also you'll get about 10 Spider-Man and about 15 Elsas, because that's a book as they clutch.

Speaker 1 14:01

It's just what they've got. Who they want to dress up as isn't it.

Speaker 2 14:05

It's a favourite film character really. Of course it is.

Speaker 1 14:08

Yeah, more so than the book. So what are we going to do about it, sarah?

Speaker 2 14:13

Well, I think it's time to move away. Well, I think we kind of in. What I feel is, though, we should allow the children to dress up at school, so you have out some, just some materials and props, and when they come to school they can decide who they want to be, and they could make their own costume out of junk modelling or just wrapping material around themselves.

Speaker 2 14:41

They can make a mask, something where there's a lot more thought and a lot more play involved, and then it just all goes away at the end of the day and they can go home and we can tell the parents what they did.

Speaker 1 14:53

You can take photos and share it For things that you can do. I've seen where, I think on the Literacy Trust, I think all the World Book Day website. There's lots of ideas. One of them is, instead of getting yourself dressed up, you get a potato and you decorate the potato like the book character.

Speaker 2 15:12

So it's just a little bit more accessible for people Like sweet potato.

Speaker 1 15:15

Oh yeah, it doesn't have to be potato themed.

Speaker 2 15:19

You should be limited in you. Yeah, sweet potato.

Speaker 1 15:23

Sweet potato? I can't think of anyone else here.

Speaker 2 15:25

That's about it.

Speaker 1 15:27

Yeah, so it could. Yeah, it's just again. It's just about taking the pressure off parents and children to dress up and to but still be creative and still have the focus on book characters. And we also know that our friend friend I wouldn't say friend of the show, but that's wishful thinking.

Speaker 2 15:45

It is wishful thinking.

Speaker 1 15:46

Great Botrule yeah, the lovely Great Botrule. Greg, if you're listening like you're always welcome to come on our podcast.

Speaker 2 15:52

Yeah, more than welcome.

Speaker 1 15:55

On his Facebook and his Can I Go and Play Now account, he did share some lovely ideas for just alternatives to Wellbook Day, so I think we're going to give a couple of those a try next week as well, aren't we?

Speaker 2 16:11

Yeah. Wellbook Day, so should we put that in the show notes and then people can have a look. Yeah, I think he, as always, he just comes up with the best child-friendly, just simple, not too over the top, and they're just easily little fittings.

Speaker 1 16:27

And imagine. You know it's about using imagination and just that love for the magic of stories. But although just having a look at his ones, the last one he's to dress up is his favorite politician. So I don't think idea five is really one. I think I'd really struggle with that one. That was more of a political statement than an idea. But yeah yeah, who's your favorite? I don't think I have a favorite I think that's the point.

Speaker 1 16:57

But yeah, he did. One of his ideas was to just do nothing special, because every day is Wellbook Day, and I guess it's about how you foster that love of reading and books in your setting. So what are some of the ways that we do that? Do you think here?

Speaker 2 17:13

So in school we you know we love reading to children we do do the book vote, but that is not the only time that we read a story. As I say, I have been trying to do a lot of prop stories recently, trying to create a scene with material and getting like bricks and the wooden trees out and the characters off the shelves and making my own stories Like usually just very ad hoc after me.

Promoting Reading and Creativity in Education

Speaker 2 17:42

Yeah, and sometimes I'll pause and say, oh, what could happen next in the story? I'm letting the children take over and some of the most bonkers stories have happened. But it's funny, it's fun and it's fostering that love of role playing, that love of reading and all those early Just that imagination. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 18:01

It's nice and we do have a lot of books in the provision, like we dot books everywhere, so we do have our reading areas, but we also have books throughout and we have lots of books outside we do. We have a little reading shed outside as well where the children can go, even when it's raining to read books and adults will just sit and do like a small story time session.

Speaker 2 18:24

children absolutely love it and I just think, yeah, that's really important because we record ourselves reading stories and put them on our Facebook pages for parents, so that children who may not have access to stories or books and only have screens can have it at home. And so they've got us reading a story to them.

Speaker 1 18:45

Yeah, and I had a lot of comments about that. Parents even recently like, oh, they love having a story with you at bedtime and I was like oh, they're so sweet, but it's also really embarrassing because um like, oh no, you're in their sort of house and yeah, I don't think about it too much. I know exactly, I run it. We in my classroom I have a.

Speaker 2 19:10

Yoto player, which is like a box that you put a card in and it will read a story to them and they I try and put the books that match and you can actually record your own voice, you can record your own story so that they do match. And again, it's the children always have access to your voice or start adults that they know and when they hear it's your voice, they go it's you, you're in there and you're like yeah, yeah, they love it, don't they? They do love it.

Speaker 1 19:36

We've done something in nursery this year called star stories, where we have a story that we read every day. We just make sure we read the same story every day and then we have multiple copies of that book and we have them in a special box in like a star box and they're the star story. So the children can then go and they've, because they've been hearing the language of the story, they've got the language of story so they can. They can read it themselves and we've had some really lovely moments with that. We had one moment where we had two children on the stage with about 10 children sitting down watching while they were performing, word for word, a story. And again we've been putting them onto Facebook so that they can read them at home and the parents have really commented about that. So that's been a really good sort of new addition to just getting the children to use that language. I think you know the language of rhyming words and things like that in the text.

Speaker 1 20:35

So we've just chosen very sort of classic but repetitive texts for that purpose, things like brown bear, brown bear, where it's very repetitive, things like that.

Speaker 2 20:47

So yeah, oh, that's lovely, I think it's, it's. It's kind of like the premise of at home, every householder's got a julia donaldson book and they, they all know the story of the gruffalo, don't they, because they hear it in so many settings, and so you're kind of trying to recreate that. But perhaps, with not a julia donaldson book, they're trying to hear that repetitive story and they can predict what's happening and they can, as you say, retell it themselves. So they feel like they've they've got the power to read.

Speaker 1 21:17

That's it, yeah. So it's nice because you spot children just sort of sitting there and just reading. So it's, it's lovely, it's been really good. So that's another idea for people to try. But I think we're going to produce something, one of our little free learning resources that hopefully that means we won't get sort of off-stead, because the last time we did it, we had to use it for off-stead so hopefully it won't sort of jinx anybody touch it.

Speaker 1 21:48

But yeah, we're just going to produce something with lots of ideas of how to have a more skills based and child led kind of child led world book day. It doesn't mean that you can't do your dressing up, especially if it's something that's embedded in your school. I think it's very hard to go against that culture if you're working in a school. Yeah but yeah, just just a few alternatives yeah, okay, mindful, moment, mindful so.

Speaker 1 22:19

So, first of all, I've got to do a shout out to, to my secret Santa. Whoever that might be, it's not me. No, it's not me. So it's somebody that listens to the show. No, it wasn't me, I just assumed it was you. No, it's not me.

Speaker 2 22:36

I absolutely, because you said this before and I was like she's into the game, so somebody, this is just the better say it must be someone that listens to the show.

Speaker 1 22:45

That's all I can say or somebody that feels I need to like, meditate, um, so maybe it's one of my, one of my classmates. So we do an early years team? Secret Santa at Christmas where you don't know who you've like who's? Got you or whatever, and somebody bought me the best present ever, which was like a jar of mindful moments oh yeah, I did see that, but I remember you looking at me going thanks and I'm like great.

Speaker 1 23:13

I just thought you were like well, this will double up as a present and obviously hands up.

Speaker 2 23:18

Oh okay.

Speaker 1 23:19

So, whoever you are, you must be a listener, and but it's just the best that it was some other little bits in there as well. But it this jar of mindful moments. So we've just got you know, it's like a little mind mindfulness jar. So you pull out one and it's got lots of different activities on there, like mindful have a mindful cup tea, or go for a mindful walk, and things like that. So you definitely need one, but anyway, so I've got lots of material going forward. So thank you to my secret Santa, whoever you are.

Speaker 1 23:48

But, um yeah, so this week I've got a mantra, because I've been doing some meditating on the Balance app that I mentioned before, and one of the mantras is I've done my best and let go of the rest. So as you breathe in, you say I've done my best. I think I might have paraphrased it a bit, but you're breathing or I'm doing my best. So you breathe in and you say I'm doing my best, and then, as you breathe out, and let go of the rest. And I just think that helps us when we get overwhelmed, because you know you are only human, there's only so much you can do in one day.

Speaker 2 24:28

So it's just about when you work with children. The to-do list is forever.

Speaker 1 24:33

Yeah, it's never ending, so you can only do what you can do. So it's just about remembering that and just breathe in. You know, use breathing, breathe in and you say I'm doing my best Let go of the rest and it does help. I'm going to try that today. There we go.

Speaker 2 24:54

Give it a try. I'll particularly jam back today.

Speaker 1 24:57

Oh no, made more jam back by the fact we've crammed in a recording session this morning.

Speaker 2 25:04

Yeah, but no, I've enjoyed being back.

Speaker 1 25:08

It's good for our mental health.

Speaker 2 25:10

It is good for our mental health. It allows me to offload and just to feel like I'm connected to something bigger than just in the full playing world.

Speaker 1 25:20

I think it's creative as well.

Speaker 2 25:21

It's doing anything that can be creative it's good for the soul it is. So, hopefully look out for that little freebie. World Book Day freebie, yeah and enjoy World Book Day. Yeah, and we look forward to seeing some of the chatter on socials seeing some inappropriate costumes as always good or any really creative ones, just so I can still and not be.

Speaker 1 25:46

How mine next year is just great. Yeah, the easier, the better. Exactly, the cheaper, the better as well.

Speaker 2 25:53

Yeah, all right then, guys. We'll see you next time. Bye.